What’s in Your Camera Bag?

20 Jun What’s in Your Camera Bag?

Whether you’re setting off to explore the city, or the designated photographer at family gatherings; you always want to pack light when you’re heading out to shoot.

So these are my Top 5 Essentials (in no particular order) to bring for a photo/video shoot:

50mm Lens
This is one of my favourite lens to use when it comes to portrait photography. Since it’s a prime lens, it’s light and compact, so it doesn’t even feel like you’re carrying the extra weight. My 50mm is my go-to lens when I’m in need for that shallow depth of focus for portrait shots.

Storage (1 Hard drive, 2 SD Cards)
No Photographer/Videographer ever wants to see that their memory card is full. But what happens when you don’t have a back up SD card? The amount of times that My Passport hard drive has saved me from this issue is unbelievable. Your hard drive may add a bit more weight to your bag (depending on its size) but you won’t regret it when it comes to that moment of ending a shoot early because of low memory space. If you don’t have a backup hard drive, not to worry! Two additional SD cards will work the exact same way, plus it’ll be much lighter for your camera bag!

Battery Packs
Once, I went on a shoot to film an interview for a client. But by the time I arrived at my destination, I realized that I forgot to charge my batteries the night before so they would be fully charged for the shoot. But my worst nightmare came to life; the flashing red battery icon appeared on the screen. I was racing with my battery life to try to complete as much of the shoot as possible before its time was up. Sad to say, the shoot didn’t last that long. It’s the worst feeling having to let your client know that you have to pause for a moment to let the battery recharge before you can finish the interview.Save yourself the time and embarrassment by packing not just one, but TWO battery packs with you. And make sure that they’re ALL fully charged the night before!Lesson learned.

Microphone
This is for all of you videographers out there that are look for a good quality microphone for your film shoots. The RODE Shotgun GO microphone is great for indoor shoots, and those pesky, wind-infested outdoor shoots. Its unidirectional microphone will be able to pick up your voice from a far distance, and block out as much as the wind as possible; better than the built-in microphone on your camera. This microphone helped me through a lot of my interview shoots, and I can’t wait to use it more during the summer time!

Tripod

Although this isn’t something that you’ll be able to physically fit in your camera bag (unless it’s a Gorillapod), every photographer should have a tripod handy with them for more stable shots. What I carry around with me is my Optex T-260 tripod. It’s light enough to latch onto my camera bag, and does its job to create steady and crisp shots. It’s head is perfect for smooth panning and tilting (every videographer’s dream).

So these are my Top 5 Essentials to bring for a photography/videography shoot!

Do you guys have another product in mind that you wouldn’t even image to leave home without it? Let us know in the comments below!